


You Only Caught Me Once!

by PadawanMaxineKenobi



Series: Marvel Soulmate AUs [12]
Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: About as romantic as it gets when they are kids, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Cute Kids, F/M, Fluff, Kid Fic, Minor Original Character(s), Nakia is like 10, Romance, Romantic Soulmates, Some Humor, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, T'Challa is 12
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-30 05:40:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19846741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PadawanMaxineKenobi/pseuds/PadawanMaxineKenobi
Summary: When the twelve-year-old prince of Wakanda snuck out of the Palace, he didn't expect to meet his soulmate.





	You Only Caught Me Once!

**Author's Note:**

> The game that they play is one I played in school called 'Magic Mushroom'. As I got older a lot of kids made fun of the name, so I changed it in this.   
> Please Read and Review!

As far as twelve-year-old boys go, Crown Prince T’Challa of Wakanda was very mature. Unlike many boys his age, he generally did not make inappropriate jokes nor was he particularly self-absorbed. However, like most tweens, he did tend to be reckless and disobedient. Not overly so, but in this case, the young prince had awoken early, snuck into the kitchens for some fresh fruit, grabbed an over-sized cloak, and snuck out of the palace into a field of long grasses, where a group of children was playing in the slow-rising sun. T’Challa grinned widely as he approached the group. There were around thirty other children there, all within a few years of age of himself.

“Hello!” He called out, as he eagerly removed the hood of the cloak from his head, “Might I join you?”

One of the older boys- probably around fourteen- shrugged, glancing over at him.

“If you want. We are playing Magic Toadstool. Do you know how to play?”

T’Challa frowned, shifting his weight in embarrassment, but continuing to hold his head high.

“No.” He admitted. The older boy shrugged as though he was bored.

“I will explain then. The main idea of the game is that there are three evil wizards who want to capture some toadstools for their potions. The toadstools do not want to be made into potions, so the wizards have to catch them by tapping them. Once captured, a toadstool must remain perfectly still until freed. The only ones who can free toadstools that have been caught are the two magic toadstools, who are blending in with the normal toadstools to avoid drawing special attention to themselves. That make sense so far?”

T’Challa nodded.

“Good. See the three kids standing under the tree with their eyes closed and ears plugged? They’re the wizards. Right now we’re picking our magic toadstools. We already picked one. Say, are you a fast runner?”

T’Challa blinked.

“Yes, I suppose I am.”

The other boy nodded.

“Good. You will be the other one. We play for forty minutes. When that time is up, we stop. Then the wizards get to try and guess who the magic toadstools are. Alright?”

T’Challa nodded again. Then the boy turned and walked over to the three ‘wizards’, tapping them each on the shoulder. The four talked for a moment, although T’Challa was unable to hear them due to the distance and the sound of the wind in the grasses. Instead, he took a moment to remove his cloak completely, throwing the heavy garment on to a fence. Then the other boy jogged back towards them.

“Alright, we get fifteen seconds to spread out. C’mon!”

* * *

T’Challa laughed as his fingers brushed against another captured ‘toadstool’. There was one ‘wizard’ who appeared to be on to him; she had been chasing him for the last seventeen minutes. She actually managed to get him once, thankfully, the other magic toadstool had noticed and freed him. He ran in a large circle around her, managing to free four others as he went. Then the boy who had explained the game called out.

“Time’s up!”

There was a collective groan at that, as everyone stopped what they were doing and slowly walked over to the teen. They arranged themselves in two lines, one with the wizards and one with everyone else. The boy turned towards the ‘wizards’ and grinned.

“Alright, who do you think were our magic toadstools?”

A boy around T’Challa’s age stepped forward and pointed at the other ‘magic toadstool’.

“Buri was one. It took me a while to realize it, but he was definitely one.”

The other ‘magic toadstool’- Buri, apparently- shrugged.

“Yeah.”

The teen boy- Bast, T’Challa wished he had a name for him- crossed his arms and rocked on his heels.

“Alright, and who else?”

The girl who had kept chasing him stepped forward to stand in front of him.

“You’re the other one. You may be fast and agile, but you’re not very discrete. That’s no way to win.”

Although startled, T’Challa protested,

“You only caught me once!”

The girl stumbled backwards, slapping the side of her chest as her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open.

T’Challa shifted his weight side to side, pushing the neckline of his shirt aside to show his shoulder, where his words lay in their beautiful, bright yellow-green. The girl bit her bottom lip, then removed her hand from her side and lifted her right arm, before pushing away the edge of her sundress to reveal her words, which were a deep off-purple. She stared at him intensely, eyes never leaving his face as she let go of her dress and lowered her arms. Then she tilted her head and crossed her arms over her chest in a ‘X’ in greeting.

“Nakia.” She said, then lowered her arms. T’Challa copied the familiar motion.

“T’Challa.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Like the prince?”

TChalla groaned, slumping over.

“Not like. I’m actually surprised no one has come after me yet.”

Buri stepped towards him.

“You are Prince T’Challa?”

He nodded.

The other children all began chattering excitedly.

“We met the Prince!”

“We just got to see Prince T’Challa meet his soulmate!”

“Nakia is his soulmate?”

“Wow.”

“This is so cool!”

“Do you think I can take a picture? My family won’t believe me without one!”

“I don’t think mine would even if I did,”

“Prince.”

T’Challa whirled around at the familiar voice.

“Hello Okoye. Hello Ayo.”

The two Dora Milaje threw their arms into an ‘X’ in greeting. Then Okoye sighed.

“If you insist on sneaking out of the Palace, T’Challa, please leave a note that you have left and the time you plan to return. Your parents were worried that you may have been harmed or taken against your will.”

T’Challa sighed again, looking down. He hadn’t meant to worry his parents.

“Yes, Okoye.”

“Good. We will return now then.” The General of the Dora Milaje said, as the two women turned around and began walking back towards the palace.

“Wait!” T’Challa cried. Both of them looked back at him.

“What is it, Prince?”

“Can Nakia come with us?”

Okoye raised an eyebrow.

“Nakia?”

T’Challa grabbed the girl’s hand, pulling her to stand beside him.

“This is Nakia! She’s my soulmate.”

The two adults shared a look, before Okoye gave them one of her rare smiles.

“Of course. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nakia.”

Nakia grinned as she ran beside T’Challa to catch up with the Dora Milaje.

“The pleasure is mine!”

**Author's Note:**

> Please Review!


End file.
